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As the election results trickle in, early indications are that Jacob Zuma’s fledgling MK party is going to give the ANC a bloody nose in KwaZulu-Natal and possibly reduce its majority, if not take the province.
Early results from traditional ANC strongholds show Zuma’s MK party edging the ANC by more than five percent with the IFP in third and the DA in fourth.
Elsewhere in the country, especially in the Western Cape, Gayton Mckenzie’s Patriotic Alliance was showing strong numbers and was eating into the DA’s support.
Projections from television news channel eNCA predict that the ANC would retain the Eastern Cape and Northern Cape.
The MK party has slammed the IEC for “mismanaging the ongoing electoral process by undermining the constitutional rights of all South Africans to freely choose their government”. They say the commission “showed lack of competence by ignoring to communicate critical changes to the Electoral Act, specifically Section 24”, with regards to changes in law about how people could only vote where they were registered.
The MK’s head of elections, Muzi Ntshingila, said “this change was poorly communicated merely days before the elections, leading to widespread confusion and disenchantment among the electorate”.
“Such missteps not only compromise the electoral process but also frustrated citizens whose primary concern is a change towards a better life from the pains of the (President Cyril) Ramaphosa-ANC,” he said.
They also called on IEC top management to resign for bringing the organisation into disrepute.
8am – National Assembly results are 8.5 percent complete.
The ANC had 41.77 percent of the support, followed by the DA with 27.52 percent and the EFF with 7.72 percent.
While too early to make predictions, the current ruling party, although slightly below the 2019 results, maintains the lead.
The African National Congress (ANC) had 249,045 votes and 41.77% of the support, followed by the Democratic Alliance’s 27.52% with 164,061 votes and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has 7.72% of support with 46,015 votes.
New kid on the political block, uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK Party) were in fourth place with 7.54% (44,980) followed by the Patriotic Alliance (PA) with 4.56% (27,175). Read more here
6am – Late night voting chaos as thousands vote into Thursday as IEC voter devices glitch
Thousands of voters around the country were still in queues after 12am on Thursday waiting to cast their votes after the May 29 elections were rocked by snaking queues around the country, particularly in the metros of Durban, Joburg and Cape Town.
The seismic delays stemmed from the voter management devices (VMDs) which persistently glitched at several municipalities around the country as voters queued to cast their vote. Read more here
Ballot counting has gotten under way with Electoral Commission (IEC) officials in districts across the country following Wednesday’s national and provincial elections.
In KwaZulu-Natal, Jacob Zuma’s MK Party already leads the race with more than 37.70%, followed by the ANC with 33.22%, the IFP with 16.83% and the DA with 6.81%.
In Gauteng, the DA has taken the lead with 51.15%, followed by the ANC with 24.53% and VF PLUS with 9.36% while in the Western Cape; the DA has 50.28%, with the ANC on 21.21% and PA on 17.09%.
So far, the IEC said counting at 218 of 23 293 voting districts have been completed.
According to the Electoral Act, the Commission has seven days within which to announce the results.